Nico Rosberg has made his first pole position of the season and his second pole in his Formula 1 career. Rosberg has surprised even Sebastian Vettel in a session in which he finished second, followed by Fernando Alonso who was third and Felipe Massa sixth in a qualifying disputed in the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain.
After 4 minutes of the start of Q1 in the Sakhir circuit of Bahrain, Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber) was the first to roll out on the track. Gutierrez, the Mexican who as we said in Formularapida.net, will be penalized with 5 places in the grid.
Hulkenberg and Sauber led the ranking in the margin of Q1.
Then have come out competitive cars that have passed easily into Q2 in the hard tyres, everyone but Mclaren who needed medium tyres to move to the next “Q”. Even Red Bull have taken this compound, despite not having trouble moving to the Q2.
The fight was at the back for the first six eliminated. The teams that played for the removal were Williams, Toro Rosso, Sauber, Marussia and Caterham, their drivers, after having made a quick lap and stop immediately the box, have come out missing a few minutes to save tyres.
Finally, the pilots could not stave off elimination, were: Pastor Maldonado, Esteban Gutierrez Charles Pic, Jules Bianchi, Giedo Van der Garde and Max Chilton. Note among those eliminated, good time Charles Pic who has been 1.1 seconds faster than his teammate Giedo Van der Garde.
In the second “Q” saving policy has recurred. And having made a strange strategy in Q1, Webber with his Red Bull was the first on the track and then he and his team have led the time table. At the rear, Grosjean was still in the box in the middle of Q2. In that all pilots have come out with the softer tyres, the mediums.
The Mclarens, both Toro Rossos and Valtteri Bottas with his Williams were not strong candidates into Q3. Jenson Button could pass to the Q3 and Grosjean who was standing in the box, could not go to the fight for “pole”.
Unlike other “Q”s, drivers have come out immediately to dispute the “pole”. The Force India have been quick immediately. And during the first half of Q3, Rosberg was the fastest. In the absence of three minutes, all the drivers went out on track, with a Felipe Massa on the hard tyres, unlike all the other drivers who have come out with medium tyres.
With time in 0, Rosberg got first, then Vettel could do nothing but second and Alonso aborted his final lap, finishing third. Massa was sixth with hard and Kimi Raikkonen could do nothing more than the ninth.
Results:
Pos. | Driver | Country | Team | Time | Laps |
1 | Nico Rosberg | GER | Mercedes AMG Petronas | 1:32.330 | 14 |
2 | Sebastian Vettel | GER | Infiniti Red Bull Racing | 1:32.584 | 12 |
3 | Fernando Alonso | SPA | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:32.667 | 11 |
4 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes AMG Petronas | 1:32.762 | 13 |
5 | Mark Webber | AUS | Infiniti Red Bull Racing | 1:33.078 | 13 |
6 | Felipe Massa | BRA | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:33.207 | 13 |
7 | Paul di Resta | SCO | Sahara Force India | 1:33.235 | 14 |
8 | Adrian Sutil | GER | Sahara Force India | 1:33.247 | 16 |
9 | Kimi Raikkonen | FIN | Lotus F1 Team | 1:33.327 | 13 |
10 | Jenson Button | GBR | Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes | ———— | 11 |
Out of Q1: | |||||
11 | Romain Grosjean | FRA | Lotus F1 Team | 1:33.378 | 7 |
12 | Sergio Pérez | MEX | Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes | 1:33.762 | 9 |
13 | Daniel Ricciardo | AUS | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:33.914 | 14 |
14 | Nico Hulkenberg | GER | Sauber F1 Team | 1:33.974 | 14 |
15 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Williams F1 Team | 1:34.104 | 13 |
16 | Jean-Eric Vergne | FRA | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:34.284 | 13 |
Out of Q2: | |||||
17 | Pastor Maldonado | VEN | Williams F1 Team | 1:34.425 | 6 |
18 | Esteban Gutiérrez | MEX | Sauber F1 Team | 1:34.730 | 9 |
19 | Charles Pic | FRA | Caterham F1 Team | 1:35.283 | 6 |
20 | Jules Bianchi | FRA | Marussia F1 Team | 1:36.178 | 6 |
21 | Giedo Van der Garde | NED | Caterham F1 Team | 1:36.304 | 7 |
22 | Max Chilton | GBR | Marussia F1 Team | 1:36.476 | 6 |